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THE 



Lucky Little Enterprise." 



AND 



HER SUCCESSORS 



IN THE 



UNITED STATES NAVY. 



J776-J900. 



BY F. STANHOPE HILL, 

Author of "Twenty Years at Sea," "Historical Continuity of 
THE Anglican Church," etc., etc. 



BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS; 

1900. 



.HO 



THE LIBWAWV OF 

CONGRESS, 
One Copy Reoeived 

JUN. «:.3 1904 






f- 



eonr ■: 



Copyrighted, 

1900, 

5Y F. Stanhope Hill. 



:'5 



TO THE CADETS 



OF THE 



MASSACHUSETTS NAUTICAL TRAINING 
SCHOOL. 



THE early predecessor in the navy of the United States of 
the vessel that is now used as the training ship of the 
Massachusetts Nautical Training School was the armed schooner 
Enterprise. From her remarkably successful career in the brief 
naval war with France, 1799-1800; in the brilliant naval opera- 
tions against the Barbary Powers, 1801-1805 ; and in the war 
with England in 18 12-18 14, she became familiarly known in the 
service as "the Lucky Little Enterprise.^^ 

Among the young men who began their naval career in the 
little Enterprise nearly a century ago were Hull, Bainbridge, 
Decatur, Porter, Lawrence, Macdonough, Somers, Burrows, and 
others who either lived to write their names high up on the scroll 
of fame or, like Lawrence, Somers, and Burrows, gave up their 
lives in the service of their country. 

If the cadets of the Enterprise, who under careful instruction 
are now learning the seaman's art, should find in this brief 
chronicle of heroic deeds an incentive to aim for the same high 
standard of honor, devotion to duty and sturdy patriotism that 
characterised the young sailors of whom I write, my labor will be 
more than repaid. 

For the historical data in this paper I have drawn upon the 
Library and Naval War Records of the Navy Department, .^ 
Emmons's United States Navy, Cooper's Naval History, Roose- ♦ 
velt's War of 18 12, Captain A. S. Barker's Deep Sea Soundings, 
and various contemporary sources. 

F. STANHOPE HILL, 

Secretary Massachusetts Nautical Training School. 

Boston, January i, 1900. 



THE STORY 

• OF THE 

''Lucky Little Enterprise." 



■ I have done the State some service." 



IT is very doubtful if the naval history of any nation can show a 
more brilliant record, for a vessel of her size, than was gained 
during the first fifteen years of the present century by the little 
twelve-gun schooner Eiita-prise, afterward rigged as a brig, and the 
predecessor on the navy list of the United States of the present 
steam sloop-of-war E?iterprise, now used as the school-ship of the 
Massachusetts Nautical Training School. 

It is also noteworthy that during her long and eventful 
career, the Enterprise never met with a reverse, nor a serious 
mishap, never failed to capture any antagonist with whom she 
joined issue in battle, and when forced to escape from absolutely 
overpowering odds, as in 1813-14, she was always able to distance 
her pursuers — in one case, only after a chase of seventy hours. 

During her very active service in the West Indies, in the war 
of 1798-99, between the United States and France, as well as 
later in the Mediterranean, where she took part in our conflict 
with the Beys of Tunis and Tripoli, the Enterprise invariably gave 
a good account of herself, as might have been expected when 
we note the men, afterward famous in our naval history, who as 
lieutenants commanded her. 

Among these were sturdy Isaac Hull, ten years later the 
gallant commander of the Cotistitutiott, and Stephen Decatur, 



6 THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 

whose heroic exploit in the destruction of the Philadelphia in taa 
Bay of Tripoli was but the prelude to a long and brilliant career, 
that culminated in 1815 in the absolute humiliation of the Barbary 
Powers by the squadron under his command. Other captains of 
the little Enterprise were Charles Stewart, afterward when in com 
mand of the Constitution^ the captor of the Cyane and Levant ; and 
James Renshaw, who for nineteen months was a captive at 
Tripoli. David Porter of Essex fame, father of the late Admiral 
of our Navy, served as a junior lieutenant in the Enterprise in the 
operations against Tripoli, and among her officers at that time 
were midshipmen James Lawrence, "the Bayard of the Sea," who 
gave up his life on the deck of the ill-fated Chesapeake ; Joseph 
Bainbridge and Thomas Macdonough, who gained the glorious 
victory over the British fleet on Lake Champlain. 

It makes one fairly dizzy to recall the names of the young 
officers attached to that little schooner during the years 1800- 
1805, who were to become world heroes within a scant decade. 
The Enterprise, then as now, was really a school-ship, and the 
young officers on board of her were there acquiring the practical 
training and imbibing the professional spirit that made them self- 
reliant, patient, fearless and patriotic. And her graduates, as 
they passed on to a broader field of duty in their country's service, 
did not fail to profit by their early training. 

The first vessel in the United States service bearing the 
name of Enterprise was a sloop, armed with twelve four-pounder 
guns, and carrying fifty men. Commanded by Captain Dicken- 
son, she was one of a fleet of seventeen vessels on Lake Cham- 
plain in 1776, the whole under the command of Brigadier-General 
Benedict Arnold in the operations against Crown Point. They 
were officered and manned principally by soldiers and landsmen. 
This fleet fought a drawn battle with the British fleet off the 
Island of Valcour, October 11, 1776, which lasted five hours, in 
which some of the vessels were disabled and sunk. Two days 
later, in a running fight to the southward, one of the vessels was 



THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 7 

-captured, after great loss. Soon after, the remainder of the Ameri- 
can fleet was run on shore in a small creek, about ten miles from 
Crown Point, and destroyed by their own officers to prevent their 
falling into the hands of the enemy, with the exception of the 
Enterprise, which, with the good fortune that seemed her birth- 
right, escaped both capture and destruction. But the resistance 
of the Americans had been so stubborn that it discouraged the 
British commander. General Sir Guy Carleton, who retired to 
Montreal for the winter. Arnold received great credit for his 
heroic conduct on Lake Champlain, and the fight off Valcour, 
which was the first naval battle in the history of the United 
States, was called " the naval Bunker Hill." 

In the summer of the year 1798, the continued aggressions 
of French cruisers upon our mercantile marine had caused the 
somewhat tardy abrogation by Congress of all existing treaties 
with France, and American cruisers were ordered to capture 
any French vessels that might be found near the coast preying 
upon our commerce. The scope of this order was very shortly 
extended by authorizing the capture of such vessels wherever 
found, and Letters-of-Marque and Reprisal were issued to private 
armed ships. 

Early in 1799 our government built and equipped at Balti- 
more, Md., two schooners of about one hundred and sixty-five 
tons, the Enterprise and the Experiment. They each cost $16,240 ; 
their armament was twelve six-pounders, and their complement 
was about seventy men. These light, fast, handy little vessels, 
built on the fine modelled lines that had already made the 
Baltimore clippers famous for speed and seaworthiness, were 
especially intended to deal with the small fore-and-aft-rigged 
French privateers which fairly swarmed in the West Indies, 
readily avoiding capture by our heavy, square-rigged cruisers. 
The wisdom of this policy was speedily proved by the remarka- 
ble success of the new schooners against the enemy. 

On April i, 1800, the Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant 



8 THE "lucky little ENTERPRISE." 

John Shaw, had a smart brush with a brig, showing Spanish 
colors, near the Mona Passage. The stranger had eighteen guns 
of heavier calibre than the American, and the action lasted for 
twenty minutes, the brig continuing to fly the Spanish flag. At 
last both vessels withdrew, each convinced that a mistake in 
nationality had been made. 

Lieutenant Shaw, finding it necessary after this contest to 
make some repairs, went into St. Thomas. While there he was 
challenged to fight a French lugger of twelve guns outside the 
harbor, but the Frenchman failing to keep the appointment, Shaw 
sailed for St. Kitts, capturing a small privateer on the way, and 
a few days later he captured the Letter-of-Marque Seine. This 
was quite a desperate fight, the Frenchman having twenty-four 
killed and wounded, while the Enterprise had several wounded 
but none killed. Two weeks later the Ente7-prise captured the 
six-gun privateer Citoyenne and sent her into St. Kitts. The 
French loss in this engagement was fourteen killed and wounded, 
while the Americans had but eight wounded. 

Returning to St. Kitts, the Enterprise refitted, and upon 
going to sea fell in with the same lugger that had challenged her 
a month before at St. Thomas, and actually captured her without 
firing a shot, very much to the surprise of Lieutenant Shaw, who 
had anticipated a severe fight. Shortly after this, while near 
Guadaloupe, the French privateer brig E Agile was encountered 
and, after a brief contest, was carried by boarding, the French 
losing twelve killed and wounded, while the Enterprise had only 
three wounded. 

In July the Enterprise, while becalmed, was approached one 
night by a French privateer brig. Evidently thinking the Ameri- 
can was a merchant vessel, the brig had her sweeps out and was 
coming down upon her expected prey. A breeze sprang up, 
however, and the Enterprise, getting the wind first, trimmed and 
made all sail and started in chase of her adversary. The French- 
man, finding that he had caught a Tartar, attempted to make oft' 



THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. g, 

before the wind under studding sails. But the Yankee schooner 
had the heels of the privateer, and keeping in her wake, and 
within musket shot, Lieutenant Shaw made it very unpleasant for 
the Frenchman by a well-directed fire of small arms. At last the 
Enterprise drew abeam of the brig, and the two vessels then 
engaged at close quarters. During the fight the Frenchman's 
foretopmast was carried away, taking with the wreck several men 
who were aloft endeavoring to secure the spar, and although the 
brig made no effort to save her drowning men, the Enterprise 
lowered a boat and picked them up. Then, running alongside 
the French vessel, and pouring in a rapid fire, Shaw soon forced 
her to surrender. The prize proved to be the Flambeau, mounting 
twelve nine-pounders, with a crew of one hundred and ten, while 
the Enterprise only had twelve six-pounders and eighty-three men. 
The French loss was forty killed and wounded, while the Ameri- 
cans, with their usual good fortune, only lost ten men. 

A month later the Enterprise chased for five hours, and finally 
captured, the French privateer Pauline of six guns and forty men, 
and in September she took the Letter-of-Marque Guadalotiphine 
of seven guns and forty-five men. This made a grand total for 
six months for the Enterprise of eight privateers, with an aggre- 
gate of forty-seven guns and three hundred and eighty-four men, 
captured and four American merchantmen recaptured. 

Returning to the United States, the brilliant services of 
Lieutenant Shaw were at once recognized by placing him in com- 
mand of the captured French corvette Le Berceau of twenty-six 
guns, while Lieutenant Charles Stewart was ordered to the com- 
mand of the Enterprise. 

In May, iSoi, the Enterprise, then commanded by Lieutenant 
Andrew Sterett, sailed for the Mediterranean in the American 
squadron under the command of Captain Richard Dale, who was 
ordered to make a demonstration in force against the Bashaw of 
Tripoli and the Bey of Tunis, in view of the probability of a 
declaration of war by Tripoli, which, as it proved, had actually at 



lO THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 

that time been made, although the news of it had not been 
received at Washington. The immediate cause of tliis war was 
the dissatisfaction of the Bashaw of Tripoli and the Bey of Tunis 
with the amount of tribute they were receiving from the United 
States, which they considered insufficient as an immunity for 
refraining from the capture of American vessels. 

In common with tlie principal European states, our young 
nation had long submitted to this incredible humiliation, and in 
January, 1798, we actually sent as a present to the Dey of Algiers 
the frigate Crescent, loaded with valuable gifts, including twenty- 
six barrels of dollars, " as a compensation for delay in not fulfilling 
our treaty stipulations in time." It is worthy of note that the 
captain and several of the officers and crew of the Crescent had at 
different times been prisoners at Algiers, while Richard O'Brien, 
who took passage in the frigate to become Consul-General to all 
the Barbary States, had been held as a prisoner at Algiers for ten 
years. The total value of the Crescent with the gifts she carried 
was estimated at $300,000, and this naturally excited the cupidity 
of the Bey of Tunis, who complained that he had only received 
$40,000 from the United States during the past year. 

England, with her strong commercial instinct, then, as now, 
stood between the Turk and the civilized world as his quasi-pro- 
tector, in the effort to secure for Great Britain the monopoly of 
the Mediterranean commerce, and Lord Sheffield did not hesitate 
to declare in Parliament : "That the Barbary States are advan- 
tageous to maritime powers (Great Britain) is certain. If they 
are suppressed, the little states of Italy would have much more of 
the carrying trade." These words slightly paraphrased might 
well have been used by Lord Salisbury in Parliament three years 
ago. 

In May, 1800, the United States frigate George Washington, 
Captain William Bainbridge, sailed from our shores carrying the 
annual payment to the Dey of Algiers. This was the last tribute 
this nation was ever to pay to a foreign power, civilized or 



THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 11 

uncivilized, for soon after the stirring words rang out in the halls- 
of Congress : " Millions for defence. Not one cent for tribute ! " 

Arriving at Algiers, Captain Bainbridge, very much against 
his will, was induced at the solicitation of Consul-General O'Brien 
to carry the Dey's personal present of money and slaves to the 
Sultan at Constantinople. The Dey did not hesitate to say, when 
Bainbridge at first declined this service, "Your nation pays me 
tribute, by which you become my slaves ; I have therefore the 
right and the power to order you as I may think proper." That 
Bainbridge was a gallant officer he conclusively proved in the 
coming years, but it is difficult in these days to comprehend how 
he could have brought himself to the point of complying with this 
arrogant demand. Within three years it was his fate to become 
a prisoner, and for nineteen months Bainbridge languished in the 
dungeons of the Bashaw of Tripoli. He could not well have 
fared worse had he defied the Dey of Algiers from the deck of 
his staunch frigate George Washington. 

Upon the arrival of the American squadron at Gibraltar, the 
frigate President and the Enterprise were sent to Algiers, and sub- 
sequently the Enterprise was ordered to Malta. While cruising 
off that Island on August i, iSoi, she fell in with the Tripolitan 
war polacre Tripoli of fourteen guns and eighty-five men, and an 
action was at once begun which lasted three hours. During this 
desperate fight, the Tripolitan three times surrendered, but when 
the Enterprise sent a boat to take possession the enemy twice 
reopened fire and rehoisted their colors. Exasperated by this 
treachery. Lieutenant Sterett determined to sink the polacre, and 
opened fire, but the Tripolitan commander at last threw his flag 
into the sea, begging for quarter. Lieutenant David Porter was 
again sent to secure the prize, which this time he accomplished. 
The Tripolitan loss was fifty killed and wounded, while, strange 
as it may seem, the Americans had no loss whatever. Sterett 
dismantled the polacre, throwing all her guns overboard, and 
ordered her to make for the nearest port. For this gallant affair 



L ofC 



12 THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 

Lieutenant Sterett was promoted, and Congress voted him a 
sword, while each member of the crew received a month's extra 
pay. 

The Tripolitan captain did not fare as well, for upon the 
arrival of the polacre at Tripoli the Bashaw ordered her wounded 
captain to be mounted on a jackass and paraded through the 
streets, and afterward to receive five hundred bastinadoes. So 
terrified were the Tripolitans at this event that the sailors aban- 
doned the cruisers fitting out, and only with the greatest difificulty 
could men be procured to navigate them. 

Under orders from Washington, the President and the Enter- 
prise returned to the United States in December, to avoid 
wintering in the Mediterranean. In May, 1802, the Enterprise 
again sailed for those waters, accompanying a squadron com- 
manded by Commodore Victor L. Morris, which included the 
frigates Chesapeake, Constellation and New York, and the corvettes 
Adams and John Adams. The frigates Philadelphia and Essex 
had remained on the station. 

During this cruise the Efiterprise, while commanded by the 
gallant Isaac Hull, then a lieutenant, actually cornered a Tripoli- 
tan twenty-two gun cruiser one night, driving her to seek refuge 
in a narrow bay, and holding her there until daylight, when the 
ix\gdiiQ/i)hn Ailams coming down to the assistance of the plucky 
little schooner, the two American vessels stood in shore, opened 
fire, and soon afterward the cruiser blew up with all on board. 

On December 23, 1S03, the Enterprise, commanded by Lieu- 
tenant Stephen Decatur, captured a Tripolitan ketch, the Mastico, 
bound for Constantinople with female slaves for the Sultan's 
harem. Decatur had already proposed to Preble to run into the 
harbor of Tripoli at night with the Enterprise and destroy the 
Philadelphia that had been taken possession of by the Tripolitans 
on November i, after she had grounded near the entrance to the 
port, but the Commodore would not sanction the plan. He 
decided, however, to send in the Mastico on this venture, and the 



THE " LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. 



13 



officers and crew of the Enterprise, having captured the ketch, 
claimed the honor of taking her in for this perilous expedition. 
Every man and boy on board volunteered for the occasion, but as 
the crews of other ships also demanded recognition, six officers 
from the Enterprise and six from the Constitution were selected. 
Sixty-two men were also chosen from the crews of the two vessels, 
and these, with an Italian pilot, manned the Mastico. 

The thrilling story of that brilliant and entirely successful 
enterprise is too familiar to need repetition at length. Entering 
the harbor of Tripoli on the evening of February 15, 1804, the 
Mastico was permitted to drift close alongside of the Philadelphia 
without exciting suspicion, and then, led by the gallant Decatur, 
and followed by his brave officers and men, the frigate was 
boarded, the crew of 400 Tripolitans were driven in panic over- 
board, and the ship was fired. The daring Americans then 
escaped from the harbor, followed by the Tripolitan gunboats, 
and passing through a hail of shot and shell from batteries 
mounting one hundred and fifteen heavy guns, reached their ships 
•with but one man wounded. 

The Philadelphia burned furiously, until at last the magazines 
ignited and a terrific explosion rent the ship into fragments and 
her destruction was complete. Nelson, who was then blockading 
Toulon, declared this "the most bold and daring act of the age," 
and Congress manifested its high appreciation of Decatur's 
bravery by promoting him two grades, to Captain, and voting 
him a sword. 

After this successful raid, the Mastico under Decatur was 
taken into the service and appropriately called the Intrepid, but 
her career under our flag was to be brief. A month later Preble 
decided to send her into the harbor as a floating mine, for the 
purpose of destroying the Tripolitan gunboats. In charge of 
Master-Commandant Richard Somers, the Intrepid -w 3.5 filled with 
powder, explosive shells and combustibles, and with three officers, 
Somers, midshipmen Henry Wadsworth (an uncle of the poet 



14 THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. 

Longfellow) and Joseph Israel, with a crew of ten men, she ran 
in on the night of September 4, 1S04, with a fine leading breeze. 
Unfortunately she grounded on tlie rocks at the entrance to the 
harbor, where she was immediately attacked by three Tripolitan 
gunboats, and in pursuance of his avowed intention not to be 
taken alive, it is believed that Somers fired the magazine of his 
vessel, blowing her up in the midst of his enemies. 

Although this attempt to destroy the Tripolitan gunboats 
failed. Captain Preble vigorously continued his bombardment of 
the fortifications, and on August 3, 1804, sent in the six gunboats 
with tiie Enterprise, covered by the fire of the Constitution, to 
destroy the Bashaw's gunboats and galleys in the harbor. 

The contempt of the Bashaw for " the Franks beyond the 
ocean," as they called the Americans, was shown at the time of 
this attack- — -a contempt, by the way, that was soon to be changed 
to a very wholesome feeling of respect. Standing upon the terrace 
of his palace, he watched the American gunboats coming in and 
remarked to one of his officers : " They will soon make their dis- 
tance for tacking ; they are a sort of Jews, who have no notion of 
fighting." The terrace was crowded with spectators to behold the 
chastisement the Bashaw's gunboats would give the Americans if 
they approached too near. But soon the shells from our flotilla 
began to fall in the town, and the inhabitants fled to the suburbs, 
while the Bashaw retreated to his bomb-proof room. 

This proved to be one of the most stubborn fights of the 
war, a hand-to-hand combat that in its various exhibitions of 
desperate personal courage recalls the feats of the paladins of 
old. 

Stephen Decatur, who led the second of the two divisions, 
with three gunboats, kept to windward and closed with one of 
the eastern division of nine Tripolitan gunboats, boarding her 
with only fifteen men. The captain of this vessel, a large, 
powerful man, was singled out by Decatur, who charged him 
with a boarding pike, but the Turk seized the weapon, wrested 



THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 15 

it from his assailant's hands, and turned the pike against its 
owner. Decatur drew his sword, parried the thrust and made a 
blow at the pike, with a view of cutting off its head, but the sword 
hit the iron and broke at the hilt, leaving Decatur helpless. As 
the Turk made another thrust with the pike, the gallant American 
partially averted it with his arm, but received the point in the 
flesh of one breast. Pushing the iron from the wound, Decatur 
sprang within the weapon and grappled his antagonist, the pike 
falling between them. The Turk's muscular strength, however, 
overcame the American and he fell across the gunnel of the 
boat. In this position Decatur managed to draw a small pistol 
from the pocket of his vest, passed the arm that was free around 
the body of the Turk, pointed the muzzle in and fired. The ball 
passed entirely through the body of the Musselman and lodged 
in Decatur's clothing. At the same instant he felt the grasp of 
his foe relax and he was liberated. :^^aJ^ 

During this melee a sergeant of marines interposed between 
his commander and another Turk who was about to cleave Lieu- 
tenant Decatur's skull, receiving the sabre stroke on his own arm, 
which was nearly severed by the blow. 

By this time the other thirteen Americans had overcome the 
thirty-one Tripolitans, and hauled down the colors of the gunboat. 

Decatur left her in charge of Lieutenant McDonough and 
eight men, and laid another Tripolitan gunboat on board, carry- 
ing her, also, after a desperate engagement of a few minutes. 
These two captured boats had thirty-three men killed and twenty- 
seven were made prisoners, nineteen of them wounded. 

Lieutenant Trippe had an equally exciting experience. He 
boarded another Tripolitan boat with only Midshipman Jonathan 
Henley and nine men, his boat falling off before any more could 
join him. He was thus left to conquer thirty-six men with only 
eleven. For a time the victory seemed doubtful. Trippe received 
eleven sabre wounds, some of them dangerous. The blade of his 
sword bending, he, like Decatur, also closed with his antagonist 



l6 THE "lucky little ENTERPRISE." 

and both fell. In the struggle Trippe wrested the Turk's sword 
from him, and with it stabbed his antagonist to the heart. 

After fourteen of the Tripolitans had been killed, the sur- 
viving twenty-two surrendered to the eleven Americans, and 
Trippe brought his captured gunboat off in triumph. 

Lieutenant Somers, not able to fetch far enough to windward 
to codperate with Decatur, fell upon the leeward division of the 
enemy, and with his single boat attacked five full-manned Tripoli- 
tan boats within pistol shot. After a desperate fight he defeated 
and drove them in a shattered condition and with the loss of 
many men to seek refuge under the cover of the rocks. 

Lieutenant James Decatur (brother to Stephen) engaged one 
of the larger Tripolitan gunboats. After losing a greater part of 
her men she surrendered, but as James Decatur stepped on board 
of his prize the Turkish captain treacherously shot him through 
the head, and she escaped while the Americans were recovering 
the body of their unfortunate commander. 

The result of this fight was the capture of three gunboats, 
and the destruction of three others. The Americans also brought 
off one hundred and three prisoners, beside leaving many killed 
and wounded, while our loss was only fourteen killed and wounded. 

In this connection a story is told by a contemporaneous 
writer that may or may not be true. I give it for what it is 
worth. He says when Decatur returned to the Enterprise from 
this expedition he at once took a boat and boarded the Constitution 
to report to Preble, without waiting to change his clothing, which 
was torn and begrimmed with powder and blood. 

The Commodore was on the quarter-deck awaiting Decatur, 
who, saluting, said : " Commodore, I have brought you out three 
gunboats ! " At this Preble seized Decatur by the lapels of his 
coat and shaking him, responded, " Why didn't you bring them 
all out, sir 1 " 

At this public indignity, Decatur, who had no sword, as it 
had been broken in his contest with the Turk, thrust his hand in 



THE "lucky little ENTERPRISE." 1 7 

his breast for a dagger he had carried through the day, but it also 
had been lost, and thus, says the chronicler, " a grave scandal 
was averted." 

Preble went down to his cabin, where Decatur was speedily 
summoned. A long private conference ensued, and the incident 
was allowed to pass without further investigation. 

It is certain that Preble was a man of violent temper, was 
subject to outbreaks of anger well-nigh uncontrollable, and he 
was under a very high state of nervous tension at the time, as his 
plans for the entire destruction of the Tripolitan fleet had only 
partially succeded. 

The attacks upon the fortifications at Tripoli were continued 
by Preble, but the resistance of the enemy was very stubborn, 
and as winter was coming on, the Enterprise and several of the 
smaller vessels of the fleet were sent to Syra-cuse, while Captain 
Preble returned to the United States in the yoh?i Adams, being 
relieved in command of the Station by Captain Samuel Barron, 
who came in the frigate President in September, 1804. 

The results of Captain Preble's operations before Tripoli, up 
to this time, had been highly satisfactory, and very great damage 
had been inflicted upon the enemy. The Pope made a public 
declaration at this time that "the United States, though in their 
infancy, had in this affair done more to humble the Antichristian 
barbarians on that coast, than all the European states had done 
for a long series of years." 

In the spring of 1805, the American fleet having meanwhile 
been greatly increased, active operations were again begun, with 
such success that by June 3 a treaty of peace was signed by 
which the Bashaw relinquished all claim to future tribute and 
exchanged the America*n prisoners from the Philadelphia for the 
Tunisian prisoners held by our forces, and the long war honora. 
bly ended. The American fleet then returned home, and the 
Enterprise was laid up in ordinary. Congress \ oted a gold medal 
to Commodore Preble, and swords to the officers of his squadron. 



l8 THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 

In 1809 the Enterprise was again sent out to the Mediter- 
ranean under Lieutenant Trippe, returning home in 18 11. 

In June, 18 12, war was declared with Great Britain, An 
effort was at once made to rehabilitate our Navy, and the Enter- 
J>rise was transformed from a schooner into a brig, armed with 
fourteen eighteen-pounder canonades, and two long nine-pounders, 
with a crew of one hundred men. Master-Commandant Thomas 
Blakely was put in command, with orders to look out for English 
privateers on the coast of Maine, as twelve years before the Enter- 
prise had been sent to the West Indies after French freebooters. 

With her usual good luck the little vessel was not long in 
finding a quarry, and in August, 18 13, she captured the privateer 
Ely. Soon after. Lieutenant William Burrows, a very gallant 
young officer who had served with Preble in the Constitution 
during the Tripolitan war, was ordered to command the Enterprise, 
and on September i he sailed from Portsmouth, N. H., in quest 
of several privateers that had been reported in the vicinity of 
Monhegan, Maine. 

On September 4, 18 13, while near Pemequid Point, Maine, 
Burrows sighted a brig at anchor in a small inlet, which he 
recognized as a vessel of war. He at once cleared ship for 
action, and hoisted the stars and stripes at the peak and at each 
masthead. The British brig leisurely got under way, fired several 
guns and stood out seaward, with her colors also flying from each 
masthead. 

While the two vessels were standing out, the Enterprise 
leading, Lieutenant Burrows directed that one of the long nines 
should be brought aft and run out of a stern port in the poop 
cabin. As it was found that some of the fixtures interfered with 
getting a proper elevation on the gun, the Captain called the 
carpenter with his broad-axe to cut away the wood-work. This 
attracted the attention of the crew, many of whom had been in 
the Enterprise for some time, and they got the idea that Burrows 
was arranging to run from the Englishman and use the stern 



THE " LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. I9 

chaser in defence. It was not until the first lieutenant relieved 
their minds on this point by the promise of a speedy fight with 
the enemy, that entire harmony was restored. 

At 3 p. M., Burrows, having completed his preparations, 
shortened sail, tacked, and edged away toward the Boxer, the 
two vessels approaching on different tacks. At 3.20 they both 
kept away, and as they ranged alongside, the Enterprise opened 
with her starboard and the Boxer with her port guns. The 
Enterprise drew ahead, keeping up her fire, and as she passed the 
Boxer's bow the helm was put a-starboard and she sheered across 
the Englishman's fore-foot, delivering the fire of the long nine, 
which had been run out of the cabin window, twice at half pistol 
shot distance, with telling effect. 

The Boxer then kept away and drew up on the quarter of 
the Enterprise, both vessels exchanging broadsides, but the 
American brig, keeping ahead of her antagonist, again sheered 
across the Boxer'' s fore-foot, and raked her with the long nine. 
At this time the Englishman's maintopmast came down, bringing 
with it the topsail yard, and the Enterprise holding her position 
continued the raking fire. 

Very early in the action Lieutenant Burrows had been 
mortally wounded by a musket ball, but the brave fellow had 
refused to be taken below, and throughout the action he was 
stretched on deck with a hammock beneath his head. As he fell 
he cried to his first lieutenant, " Never strike that flag ! " 

Lieutenant Edward McCall, who assumed command, had 
never before been in action, but he proved fully equal to the 
occasion and fought and manoeuvred the vessel with great skill. 
At 4 p. M. the fire of the enemy ceased and a voice was heard 
hailing, "We have surrendered." 

"Why don't you haul down your colors?" returned McCall 
through his trumpet. 

"We can't, sir; they are nailed to the mast," was the 
reply. 



20 THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. 

A boat was lowered, and McCall, boarding the Boxer, found 
that her commander, Captain Samuel Blyth, had been killed at 
the first broadside from the Enterprise, and that in all the 
English had twenty-eight killed and fourteen wounded, while the 
Enterprise had but one killed and thirteen wounded, three of 
whom, however, died the next day. 

Captain Blyth, who was a very gallant officer, equally noted 
for his gentleness and humanity, had been one of the pall- 
bearers a few weeks before in Halifax at the funeral of Captain 
Lawrence of the Chesapeake. Stimulated by the good fortune of 
Captain Broke of the Shannon, Blyth had sailed in the Boxer in 
search of the Enterprise, expressing his determination to "lead 
another Yankee into Halifax harbor." 

When Lieutenant McCall returned to the Enterprise, he at 
once brought Blyth's sword to Burrows, who was still stretched 
out on deck where he had fallen. As the young commander 
grasped the sword in both his hands and pressed it to his breast 
he rnurmured, " I am satisfied." Soon after his body was laid 
out in his own cabin, covered with the flag for which he had given 
up his life, " a smile on his lips," as one of his officers wrote to 
his wife. 

An extract from a letter from Commodore Hull to Commo- 
dore Bainbridge, dated September lo, 1813, is of special interest 
as giving the testimony of an intelligent personal witness. Hull 
says : " I yesterday visited the two brigs, and was astonished to 
see the difference of injury received in the action. The Enterprise 
has but one eighteen-pound shot in her hull, one in her mainmast, 
and one in her foremast ; her sails are much cut by grape shot, 
but no injury was done by them. 

" The Boxer has eighteen or twenty eighteen-pound shot in 
Tier hull, most of them at the water's edge; several stands of 
grape shot in her side, and such a quantity of smaller grape that 
I didn't undertake to count them. Her masts, sails and spars 
are literally cut to pieces ; several ^ her guns are dismounted 



THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. 21 

and unfit for service. To give an idea, I inform you that I 
counted in her mainmast alone three eighteen-pound shot holes. 

" I find it impossible to get at the number killed, as no 
papers are found by which we can ascertain it. I, however, 
counted upwards of ninety hammocks that were in her nettings, 
besides several beds without hammocks. I have no doubt that 
she carried one hundred men on board." 

The exact number on board the Enterprise was one hundred 
and two. 

On September 7, after the arrival of the Enterprise at Port- 
land with her prize, the bodies of the two commanders were 
brought on shore in ten-oared barges, rowed at minute strokes by 
masters of ships, and accompanied by a procession of almost all 
the barges and boats in the harbor. Minute guns were fired 
from the vessels, the same military ceremony was performed over 
each body, and the procession moved through the streets, pre- 
ceded by the selectmen and municipal officers, and guarded by 
the officers and crew of the Enterprise and Boxer. Burrows and 
Blyth were buried side by side in the Portland cemetery, where 
their tombs may still be seen. 

Lieutenant James Renshaw was now ordered to command 
the Enterprise, and during the winter of 18 13-14 she made an 
extended cruise to the southward in company with the Rattlesnake. 
While off the Florida coast, the Enterprise captured the privateer 
brig Mars, armed with fourteen long nines and carrying seventy- 
five men. April 25 she was sighted by an English frigate that 
chased her for seventy hours, frequently getting within gunshot. 
On April 27 it fell calm, whereupon Lieutenant Renshaw got out 
his boats and towed the schooner until, a breeze springing up, he 
was enabled to escape from his pursuer. During this chase, 
Lieutenant Renshaw threw overboard all but two of his guns, 
reserving these to repel possible boat attacks. 

On returning to the United States at the end of this cruise, 
the Enterprise was sent to Charleston, S. C, to act as a coast 



22 THE " LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRTSE." 

guard vessel, in which service she was employed until the close of 
the war. 

During the years i8 16-19 the Enterprise, under command of 
Lieutenant Laurence Kearney, was again attached to the Medi- 
terranean squadron, and in 182 1 she was sent to the West Indies 
to aid in breaking up the pirates who were infesting the Caribbean 
Sea. Among these Lafitte, who had distinguished himself at the 
battle of New Orleans and received a pardon in consideration of 
his gallant services against the British, had fitted out a large brig- 
antine, the Pride, armed with sixteen guns and carrying one hun- 
dred and sixteen men, and returned to his old career in those 
waters. 

Lieutenant Kearney found Lafitte with the Efiterprise, and 
agreeably to the desire of our government arranged with him to 
shift his cruising ground from the West Indies to the southern 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the idea seeming to be to relieve our 
commerce at the expense of our neighbors. 

In October, 1821, the Enterprise ^ncounttrtd the noted pirate 
Gibbs with his fleet of piratical vessels while they were in the act 
of robbing the American ship Lucies, brig Anstides, and the English 
brig Larch. Lieutenant Kearney burned two of the pirate vessels, 
drove Gibbs' schooner on shore and finally burned her, and 
brought several of the pirate schooners to Charleston, S. C, 
where they were condemned. 

In 1823, after her long and fortunate career, the Enterprise 
was wrecked on the Little Curacoa, but all hands were saved. 

To sum up the service of this little vessel, we find that the 
Enterprise took more French privateers than any vessel in the 
West Indies, while her action with the Fla7nbeau was one of the 
warmest of the kind on record. In the Tripolitan war she 
captured the Tripoli, a cruiser of equal size, in a very desperate 
engagement. She captured the Mastico, and with that vessel, the 
Commander of the Etiterprise with several of his officers and men, 
aided by a detail from the Constitution, destroyed the Philadelphia. 



THE " LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 2$ 

She took the English brig Boxer after a sharp engagement. She 
escaped from several English frigates by her superior speed, and 
of the five small vessels in the Mediterranean squadron, the Enter- 
prise, Vixen, Siren, Nautilus, and Argus, the Enterprise alone 
escaped capture by the enemy. Finally she rounded out her 
career by honorable and successful work against the pirates in 
the West Indies. 

After such an adventurous and singularly fortunate career, 
it is not strange that she earned the name in the Navy of the 
"Lucky Little Enterprise.'' 

The third Enterprise in our naval service was a schooner of 
one hundred and ninety-four tons, mounting ten guns. She was 
purchased in New York, in 1831, for $27,935 and was sold in 
Boston in 1845. During her career she cruised on the Brazil 
station under command of Lieutenant S. W. Downing, 1832-33. 
She was in the East Indies, 1834-37, under Lieutenants A. S. 
Campbell and George Hollins. Cruised in the Pacific, 1838-39, 
under Lieutenants William M. Glendy and H. Ingersoll ; on the 
Brazil station, 1839-42, under Lieutenants F. EUery, Percival 
Drayton and Commander Louis M. Goldsborough, and in 1843- 
44 she was commanded by Lieutenants J. P. Wilson and J. M. 
Watson. 

These were the piping times of peace, and the third Enter- 
prise had no opportunity of making a war record. But it will be 
noted by the names recorded above that, like her immediate pre- 
decessor, this little vessel had also among her various commanders 
some officers who were later highly distinguished in our naval 
annals. 

The present steam sloop-of-war Enterprise, the fourth of her 
name in our service, was built, 1873-76, at Kittery, Me., by John 
W. Griffith and the United States government. She is bark- 
rigged ; length, 185 feet; beam, 35 feet; mean draft, 14 feet 3 
inches; displacement, 1,375 tons. Her armament when she was 
first commissioned was: one 150-pounder rifle pivot; one 60- 



24 THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. 

pounder rifle on top-gallant forecastle ; four 9-inch Dahlgren 
smooth-bore guns ; one 3-inch B. L. rifle ; one Gatling gun ; and 
two howitzers for boats and saluting purposes. 

She carried 195 ofBcers, seamen and marines, and proved 
herself one of the fastest and most efficient vessels on the North 
Atlantic Station, having a speed under steam of about twelve 
knots an hour. 

In 1879-80 the Enterprise, under the command of Com- 
mander Thomas O. Selfridge, U. S. N., surveyed the Amazon 
River a distance of several hundred miles from its mouth. Upon 
the completion of this work the ship was sent across the Atlantic 
to reinforce the European squadron. Upon her return from 
that cruise she was refitted and sent out again to the European 
squadron, 1880-82, under the command of Commander Bow- 
man H. McCalla, U. S. N. 

On January 2d, 1883, the Enterprise sailed from Norfolk, 
Va., under command of Commander A. S. Barker, U. S. N., to 
join the Asiatic squadron. The route selected by the Navy 
Department for the ship was via the Cape de Verde Islands and 
Cape of Good Hope. From the Cape, Commander Barker was 
instructed to cruise along the coast of South Africa, thence to 
Madagascar, the Comoro Islands and Zanzibar. From Zanzibar 
the Enterprise was directed to cross the Indian Ocean by the way 
of the Straits of Sunda and proceed to China, touching en route at 
Borneo. 

The Navy Department directed, for the purpose of adding 
to the existing knowledge of the ocean's bed, that deep-sea sound- 
ings should be taken on this cruise at intervals of one hundred 
miles. For that purpose the Sigsbee Improved and Sir William 
Thompson's deep-sea sounding apparatuses were put on board, 
provided with Belknap's specimen cups and other modern appa- 
ratus. 

During this cruise around the world the Enterprise made 
several important discoveries and added materially to our previous 



THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE. 25 

hydrographic knowledge of the contour of the bottoms of the 
North and South Atlantic Oceans, Among these discoveries 
were two submarine peaks in the South Atlantic Ocean, and an 
extensive sand-bank several hundred miles from the coast of 
South America. Commander Barker also found the deepest 
depression that had been discovered up to that time, but one, in 
the North Atlantic, when, in sounding to the northward of the 
Virgin Islands and Porto Rico, a specimen was brought up from 
the bottom from a depth of 4529 fathoms, or 5^ miles. The 
Blake, under Commander Brownson, had previously obtained 
4561 fathoms within 40 miles of this spot. 

During this cruise of thirty-eight months the Enterprise also 
visited all the Chinese treaty ports, and was present at the bom- 
bardment by the French of Foo Choo arsenal. Pagoda Anchorage, 
witnessing the destruction of the Chinese fleet and the passing 
of the forts in the Min River by the French squadron under 
Vice-Admiral Courbet. This engagement was exceedingly dra- 
matic in its incidents, it being the first time that the modern 
quick-firing guns had been used in battle. The effect of these 
guns when fired from the tops of the French fleet was terrific, 
making perfect charnel houses of the unprotected decks of the 
Chinese ships. 

In 1 89 1 the Enterprise was sent to the Naval Academy at 
Annapolis for the use of that institution, and in 1892 she was 
assigned by the United States government to the use of the 
Massachusetts Nautical Training School, where she is now used 
as a school-ship for the purpose of instructing about one hundred 
young men (residents of this Commonwealth) in the theory and 
practice of seamanship and steam and electrical engineering. 
The Navy Department detail for this school four naval officers. 
These are, at this time. Commanding Officer and Superintendent, 
Commander Frederick M. Wise ; Executive Officer, Lieutenant 
Robert E. Coontz ; Navigating Officer, Lieutenant L. C. Berto- 
lette; Watch Officer, Lieutenant G. G. Mitchell. These officers 



26 THE "LUCKY LITTLE ENTERPRISE." 

are also instructors, as well as the civilians who are engaged as 
engineer, surgeon, English instructor, etc. 

The Enterprise remains at Boston during the winter months, 
which are devoted to the instruction of the cadets in the theory of 
navigation and steam and electrical engineering and in other 
branches of study. During the summer months the ship is sent 
to sea, to afford an opportunity for practical work for the cadets 
in the various branches of their profession. 

The Nautical Training School is managed by a State Board 
of three Commissioners who are, at present, Rear-Admiral George 
E. Belknap, U. S. N. (retired). Chairman, Robert B. Dixon, M. D., 
and Hon. John Read. These Commissioners formulate all rules, 
regulations and courses of study for the school and administer 
the annual appropriation made by the Legislature of the Com- 
monwealth for its maintenance. During the six years it has been 
in operation the school has been exceedingly successful and 
nearly one hundred of its graduates have already obtained 
responsible positions in the mercantile marine, while about 
seventy of the cadets were engaged during the late Spanish war 
in the United States service and made an excellent record in 
their various lines of duty. 

There is a steadily increasing demand for the carefully 
trained graduates of this institution as junior engineers and 
officers in the mercantile marine, and as a natural result the 
number of applicants for admission to the school is fully up to 
its capacity. And so, in this year igoo, the modern Enterprise 
is perhaps doing, in a quiet manner, as worthy service to the 
State as was accomplished in a very different way long years ago 
by her warlike predecessor, "the Lucky Little Enterprise." 



OPINIONS OF SOME WELL-KNOWN NAVAL 

OFFICERS AND OTHER GENTLEMEN, 

WITH EXTRACTS FROM 

PRESS NOTICES. 



Following are brief extracts from a large number of 
letters received : — 

The late Governor Roger Wolcott said: 

" I have been spending a part of the afternoon in reading ' The Story of the 
Lucky Little Enterprise.' What a splendid record of American courage and 
valor ! I beg that you will accept my cordial thanks for this admirably told story 
of the sea. I shall value it highly." 

Admiral George Dewey, U. S. N., says: 

" Please accept my thanks for the little book, which I have read with much 
pleasure, recalling as it does one of the most gallant sea lights in the annals of 
our history. May the present ' Enterprise ' be as lucky as her predecessor." 

The Hon. John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy, says: 

" I value your little book and appreciate your sending it. The ' Enterprise ' 
was one of the ships of the early American Navy whicli particularly distinguished 
itself; its battle with the ' Boxer' is especially memorable. I remember looking 
at the graves in Portland, Me., where Captain Burrows and Captain Blythe lie." 

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge says: 

'• I am very glad to have your monograph on the ' Enterprise.' One of the finest 
events in the war of 1812 was her fight with the ' Boxer.' " 

Professor E. K. Rawson, Superintendent Naval War Records, says: 

" It would be very desirable if the same sort of work as ' The Story of the Lucky 
Little Enterprise and Her Successors in the United States Navy, 1776-1900,' could 
be done for some of the other historic ships in the service." 



The Rt. Rev. Leighton Coleman, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Delaware, says : 

"You did well to commemorate that most lucky vessel, the ' Enterprise,' and 
the story, as you tell it, is most interesting, and aids in doing justice to the valor 
and skill of our countrymen in a very eventful period of our history." 

Rear Admiral S. B. Luce, U. S. N., says : 

" You have done a good piece of work, and I trust the book will be used as a 
text-book on board the ship whose services and those of her forefathers — or 
foremothers (for a ship is of the feminine gender) — it commemorates. I hope 
the time will come when a little more attention will be paid to teaching our naval 
apprentices something of the history of the Navy. May your little book be the 
beginning." 

Rear Admiral George E. Belknap, U. S. N., says: 

" You have made an exceedingly interesting story of ' The Lucky Little Enter- 
prise.' There is not a dull line in the book. Rich in incident, gathered from 
many sources, happily grouped and woven together in graceful and graphic nar- 
rative, the reader's interest is at once attracted and continued with unabated en- 
joyment to the end of the story. Like the old ' Constitution,' the ' Enterprise ' 
was always a lucky ship and the stoiy of her career possesses similar interest." 

Rear Admiral James A. Greer, U. S. N., says : 

" K we could have a detailed account of many of our vessels, with personal and 
other incidents included, it would be most interesting. I have read ' The Story of 
the Lucky Little Enterprise ' with great pleasure." 

Rear Admiral Albert S. Barker, U. S. N. (formerly in command of the 
" Enterprise"), says: 

" T always felt when I was in command of the ' Entei-prise ' that she was a lucky 
ship and frequently spoke of it to the officers. I am very glad you have put so 
much information in such an attractive shape." 

Commander Franklin Hanford, U. S. N., says : 

" I have read your most interesting little book giving the history of the ' Enter- 
prise,' and write to thank you for it. There are several other vessels in the Navy 
whose history I wish might also be written up as you have done for the ' Enter- 
prise.' " 

Commander J. Giles Eaton, U. S. N. (formerly in command of the 
" Enterprise"), says: 

" I have read with great pleasure your ' Lucky Little Enterprise,' and only 
regret that it is not longer. It is excellently done and very welcome to all who 
have had to do with the staunch old seaboat." 



The New York Nation says: 

" Mr. Hill closes his very interesting memoir with the just reflection that the 
modern ' Enterprise ' is doing as worthy service to the state as did the vanquisher 
of the ' Boxer.' " 

The New York Nautical Gazette says: 

" The history of this famous ship is presented in a manner altogether com- 
mendable and we wish that more of our naval craft could have as enthusiastic a 
chronicler. As an individual history of a notable vessel this would be hard to 
excel." 

The Boston Journal says: 

" What the ' Constitution ' was among frigates and the ' Hornet ' among the 
sloops-of-war of the young navy of the Republic, the little ' Enterprise,' some- 
time schooner, sometime brig, was among the smaller craft. Captain F. Stan- 
hope Hill tells her eventful history very entertainingly, and it is probable that 
she was the most successful warship of her tonnage ever built." 

The Boston Times says: 

" We must present our compliments to Mr. Hill for his very interesting and 
patriotic account of the exploits of the ' Lucky Little Enterprise,' now used as 
a training ship by the Massachusetts Nautical Training School." 

Hon. Frank A. Hill, Secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education, says : 

" A capital stoi-y of splendid courage, written by one who knows whereof he 
writes and how to tell what he knows." 



